From mechanistic understanding of predator avoidance of insecticide contamination to improved Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Egyptian crops

Abstract

The project aims to improve our understanding of the responses of naturally occurring biocontrol agents in Egyptian food crops to residues of conventional insecticides, to encourage greater reliance on natural pest population suppression.

Description

The project uses laboratory-based techniques to investigate whether responses leading to avoidance of residues of conventional insecticides, which have previously been reported in Coccinellidae, also occur in coccinellidae ot other groups of natural enemies commonly found in Egyptian food crops. Mortality rates for these invertebrate predators following direct application of commonly used insecticides in Egypt are also investigated.